Abstract In recent years much progress has been made in establishing the mechanisms for mass, momentum and energy transfer from the solar wind into the terrestrial magnetosphere; in particular the importance of reconnection, at least at disturbed times, is generally agreed. In the most simple steady open magnetospheric model, the occurrence of reconnection is important because it fundamentally changes the magnetic topology. In the steady model, the reconnection rates on the dayside and at night match and the internal magnetospheric circulation is steadily driven by the solar wind. We discuss the processes that occur in the steady situation with particular attention to the current systems that are set up. Not only do the global Region I field aligned currents fit well with the open model but also recent work provides a simple explanation of the cusp Birkeland current system which directly associates it with the dayside reconnection process. We conclude with brief comments on the inclusion of unsteady circumstances.
Reconnection and solar terrestrial coupling
Advances in Space Research ; 10 , 9 ; 123-130
01.01.1990
8 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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